Login / Register

PULSES & BEANS

The aduki bean is an annual vine widely grown throughout East Asia and the Himalayas for its small (approximately 5mm) bean. The growers most familiar in north-east Asia have a uniform red colour, but white, black, gray and variously mottled varieties are also known. Scientists presume Vigna angularis var. nipponensis is the progenitor. Genetic evidence indicates that the azuki bean was first domesticated in the Himalayas. It was cultivated in China and Korea before 1000 BC. It was later taken to Japan, where it is now the second most popular legume after the soybean.

The blackeye bean, is a subspecies of the cowpea, grown around the world for its medium-sized edible bean. The bean mutates easily, giving rise to a number of varieties. The common commercial one is called the California Blackeye; it is pale-coloured with a prominent black spot. The currently accepted botanical name is Vigna unguiculata subsp. unguiculata, although previously it was classified in the genus Phaseolus. Other beans of somewhat similar appearance, such as the "frijol ojo de cabra" ("goat's eye bean") of Northern Mexico, are sometimes incorrectly called "black-eyed peas" and vice versa.

Phaseolus lunatus is a legume. It is grown for its seed, which is eaten as a vegetable. It is commonly known as the lima bean or butter bean; it is also known as Haba bean, Pallar bean, Burma bean, Guffin bean, Hibbert bean, Sieva bean, Rangoon bean, Madagascar bean, Paiga, Paigya, prolific bean, civet bean, sugar bean or dau ngu (Vietnamese). Raw lima beans and butter beans contain linamarin, a cyanogenic glucoside. The beans are rendered safe when cooked. Low-linamarin varieties are typically used for culinary purposes, as it is possible for one handful of raw beans to make a person violently ill.

The Cannelini bean (or navy bean), Phaseolus vulgaris, is an herbaceous annual plant domesticated independently in ancient Mesoamerica and the Andes, and now grown worldwide for its edible bean, popular both dry and as a green bean. The leaf is occasionally used as a leaf vegetable, and the straw is used for fodder. Botanically, the common bean is classified as a dicotyledon. Beans, squash and maize constituted the "Three Sisters" that provided the foundation of Native American agriculture. Beans are a legume and thus acquire their nitrogen through an association with nitrogen-fixing bacteria. These beans are low-fat, high in fibre and provide a high quality of magnesium, fibre, iron and folate. They have twice as much iron as beef. Maintaining iron stores high ensures a stable supply of haemoglobin.

The chickpea (Cicer arietinum) - aka garbanzo bean, Indian pea, ceci bean, bengal gram, Kabuli chana, kadale kaalu, sanaga pappu, shimbra, Kadala - is an edible legume of the family Fabaceae, subfamily Faboideae, are high in protein and one of the earliest cultivated vegetables. 7,500-year-old remains have been found in the Middle East. The name chickpea traces back through the French chiche-Latin cicer (from which the Roman cognomen Cicero was taken). The Oxford English Dictionary lists a 1548 citation that reads, "Cicer may be named in English Cich, or ciche pease, after the Frenche tonge." The dictionary cites "Chick-pea" in the mid18th century; the original word in English was chich, found in print in English in 1388, and taken directly from French. The word garbanzo came to English as "calavance" in the 17th century, from Old Spanish (perhaps influenced by Old Spanish garroba or algarroba). The Portuguese arvançu has suggested to some that the origin of the word "Garbanzo" is in the Greek erebinthos. But the Oxford English Dictionary notes that some scholars doubt this; it also mentions a possible origination in the word garbantzu, from Basque - a non-Indo-European tongue - in which it is a compound of garau, seed + antzu, dry;. Mature chickpeas can be cooked and eaten cold in salads, cooked in stews, ground into a flour called gram flour (also known as besan and used primarily in Indian cuisine), ground and shaped in balls and fried as falafel, fermented to make an alcoholic drink similar to sake, stirred into a batter and baked to make farinata, cooked and ground into a paste called hummus or roasted, spiced and eaten as a snack (such as leblebi). Chick peas are used to make curries and are one of the most popular vegetarian foods in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the UK.